Eurail to Canal City Amsterdam (#37)

Sparkling Star
Aug 23
2 min read

After our stay in Cologne, we took a train to Amsterdam.

We purchased a Eurail pass and it works great!

Once we arrived we had a fabulous hot pot dinner next to our Marriott Element hotel. Outside the central Amsterdam, we were able to take an easy tram in and enjoy the quiet suburban area.

On our first day we did a wonderful walking tour. Our guide discussed about how Amsterdam was a financial center and birthplace of modern capitalism. In the morning the scent of cannabis wasn’t as strong as later in the day.

Amsterstam has prevented outside investors with a 3 day squatters right provision. If a hoe remains empty for three days, someone can move in and obtain Squatters rights to the property.

We also learned that Amsterdam dam mining up the Amstel river in the 13th centurey.

And that the most public housing is in the old Jewish quarter. Housing in Amsterdam is largely unaffordable unless you get the public housing which has a 25 year waiting list.

Throughout the city were unusual buildings.

In the 70s, old barges were converted into homes and parked on the canals free of charge. Some owners tried to prevent boats they didn’t like by inviting friends to park in front of their homes. These house-barges would rid their waste overboard leading to waste in the canal. The city decided to ban any new house-barges, start leasing the "slip" and provide power and septic to each grandfathered houseboat making these barges worth millions today.

The side leaning buildings were some of the oldest. The footings are 7 ft underground in wooden peiers that have degraded. We also learned that most of these buildings were constructed in the 17th century when the spice trade was going strong. Thess buildings would lean forward to make it easier to hoist up goods to the upper floors of their homes to store in case of flooding. The bottom floor would be to sell the spices.

There are a number of these bridges that can hope and shut 20 times a day. We did not see it open on our cruise.WE

We traveled through some old narrow canals

And found this restaurant with a great view.

Our walking tour guide shared the history of the East India Trading Compnany and their role in the slave trade. As in Liverpool, slaves were not imported to the area and the wealthy locals who managed the slave trade did not personally witness the human atrocities. The slave trade went on 300 years and made this city very wealthy.